The Congress in Rajasthan has revoked the suspension of an influential Dalit leader, Babulal Nagar, who was a Minister in the previous Ashok Gehlot government, a year after he was acquitted by a sessions court in a rape case. Mr. Nagar was lodged in the Central Jail here for three years during the trial of the case.
Mr. Nagar, 57, a three-time Congress MLA, holds a considerable clout in the Dudu region of Jaipur district, which falls in the Ajmer Lok Sabha constituency going to by-election later this month. He was suspended from the party's primary membership in October 2013, when he was arrested by CBI in a rape case registered by a married woman.
The 34-year-old woman had accused Mr. Nagar of sexually assaulting her on the pretext of getting her a government job. Mr. Nagar, who failed to secure a bail during the trial, resigned as the Minister. The sessions court acquitted him on January 30, 2017, while holding that the prosecution had failed to prove its case “beyond reasonable doubt.”
The case against Mr. Nagar was registered under Sections 376 (rape) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code. Congress has ostensibly decided to take him back in the party fold, a year after his acquittal, in view of his utility in the Dudu Assembly constituency during the campaign for the January 29 by-election.
